Projects & Collaborations

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Projects

Wisdom of the Fool

Created by Stacy Pulice, this 501C3 was created with the aim to nurture the physical and emotional wholeness of educators and students to cultivate a passion for lifelong learning by utilizing innovative practices. We encourage sustainable communities that foster care, connection, creativity, and choice.

Santa Barbara High School Teacher Study

In Collaboration with University of California, Santa Barbara

The purpose of this study is to extend my previous research with students concerning their experience of a school that practiced positive, holistic methods of education as compared with a school that practiced a problem oriented, strictly academic focus. My former research revealed a significant level of oppression, leading to reduced self-motivation, self-esteem, retention of material learned, and joy in learning. Students consistently reported that their teachers seemed too stressed out and overburdened to care about them, or to create positive relationships, and did not blame them for often just pushing them through the system.

This study seeks to investigate the experience of teachers in public school using a similar line of inquiry about their experience. Students suffered from a lack of connection with teachers and peers in the classroom, leading to a sense of alienation and overwhelm, and teachers may potentially share similar feelings. When students felt the presence of care, connection, community and choices in the classroom, wellbeing and overall learning was improved. The goal of this study is to understand how teachers feel in a standardized learning institution.

This study will include 90-100 teachers as research participants at a large public high school. I will give participants a 25-question Likert scale survey, then ask 4-5 open ended questions of each, related to their reported experience of wholeness, support and relationship in school.

Civic Engagement Initiative, University of Southern California

Stacy serves on the USC Civic Engagement Board of Councilors, which provides education and services to schools surrounding its campus, and she is the Chair of its Education Committee.

In the early 1870s, when Los Angeles was a rough-and-tumble frontier town with a population of 10,000, a group of public-spirited citizens dreamed of establishing a university in the region. It took nearly a decade for that vision to become reality, and when USC first opened its doors, there were 53 students and 10 professors.

Today, the university is home to some 38,000 students and 23,000 faculty and staff, who carry on a tradition of active engagement with the community. USC has remained committed to its original University Park neighborhood as well as to its Boyle Heights/Lincoln Heights neighborhood, home of the Health Sciences campus since its opening in 1952. Both areas are among the most culturally vibrant and historically significant in the city, and both areas are integral to the identity of our university.

Collaborations

Jose's Garden, Santa Barbara High School

Help us revitalize the Greenhouse Garden area at SBHS! The garden has been used for decades by the school and greater Santa Barbara community to teach small scale food production, biodynamic soil enhancement, and nutrition.

MAD Academy, Santa Barbara High School

Ron and Stacy Pulice began parent volunteering for MAD in 2006 when their oldest son Mico joined the Academy.

By the time their daughter Remi joined in 2009, they were so convinced of it’s unique educational value, Ron joined the Board of Directors, becoming President the following year. Heading up the Facility Steering Committee, he became a strong force in getting the new building approved and built, and the couple donated $500,000 as a cornerstone gift. Stacy has focused on special programs to increase social and emotional intelligence, improve diversity, and provide support and training for teachers in the Academy.

As their youngest son Will prepares to graduate from MAD, they continue to champion the Academy as an immovative approach to education on the SBHS campus.

Sheng Zhen, Master Li Jenfeng

Bringing Master Li to MAD Academy to teach students the valuable lessons that come from practicing Qi Gong.

Master Li achieved international fame as a popular film actor, action director, and the coach of the Beijing Wushu team. At the height of his career his success brought him into contact with a spiritual master who taught him a simple but profound meditation technique, the Union of Three Hearts. His meditation practice subsequently led to a life-changing epiphany that planted the seeds of Sheng Zhen Gong in his heart, and he left China to spread this message of Unconditional Love throughout the world.

AHA! 501c3 Organization

Stacy serves on the USC Civic Engagement Board of Councilors, which provides education and services to schools surrounding its campus, and she is the Chair of its Education Committee. She is the educational consultant on the board of AHA! (Achievement, Harmony, Attitude), a non-profit providing social and emotional learning programs for at-risk teens. She also serves on the board of Multimedia Art and Design (MAD) Academy at Santa Barbara High School, offering integrated, project-based learning using media arts and technology. Dr. Pulice recently launched a non-profit focused on helping teachers nurture the “genius” in every child.